Stressed Out Flashcards
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Don’t eat to soothe yourself. Take a shower, meditate, or address your problem. If you can’t address your problem right away, do some yoga. You always feel better when you do that!
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Food doesn’t solve the problem. You can tolerate negative emotions without distracting yourself with food! A negative emotion is not an emergency!
What do thin people do when they are anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
They don’t think of eating to feel better!
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Respond to your negative thinking and solve the problem associated with the emotional upset.
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Label how you’re feeling. Tell yourself, I’m just feeling upset.. I’m not hungry.
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Stand firm. Tell yourself that you’re absolutely not going to eat just because you’re distressed. Remind yourself that you don’t want to strengtehn your giving-in muscle and weaken your resistance muscle by straying from your food plan. Think about how eating at this point will undermine your confidence in your ability to stick with your diet.
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Don’t give yourself a choice. Once you say to yourself with conviction. NO CHOICE… I’m definitely not going to eat, you’ll stop struggling. You will struggle, though, if you waver and say to yourself, I hate feeling like this… I don’t know if I can stand not eating.
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Imagine the aftermath of giving in. Visualize eating. How long do the pleasure of eating really last? Now imagine the rest of the picture. Remind yourself of how many times in your life (dozens, hundreds? More?) you promised yourself you weren’t going to stray from a diet. See yourself getting more and more heavy-heartyed, discouraged, disappointed in yourself. See how bad you feel that you gave in. Pause for a moment. Now that you’ve seen the whole picture, which seems better: eating or not eating?
Are you anxious, sad, lonely, or bored?
Read your Advantages Response Card. Don’t you want to still achieve all those benefits?
If you are about to reach for food when you’re feeling emotional, remember…
emotional eating involves a desire to distract yourself from an unpleasant feeling. When you find yourself eating for a reason other than true hunger, ask yourself, “how was I just feeling emotionally?” Was I feeling sad, lonely, worried, embarrassed, frustrated, angry, guilty? Was I feeling at loose ends, unsettled, bored? Was I trying to avoid something I didn’t want to do?
Am I feeling sad, lonely, worried, embarrassed, frustrated, angry, guilty?
Don’t reach for food. You have to deal with distress in non-food related ways if you want to sustain permanent weight loss.
Am I feeling at loose ends, unsettled, bored?
Don’t reach for food. You have to deal with distress in non-food related ways if you want to sustain permanent weight loss.
Am I trying to avoid doing something I didn’t want to do?
Don’t reach for food. You have to deal with distress in non-food related ways if you want to sustain permanent weight loss.
Am I feeling sad, lonely, worried, embarrassed, frustrated, angry, guilty? Am I feeling at loose ends, unsettled, bored? Am I trying to avoid doing something I didn’t want to do?
Distract yourself. Look at your distract yourself flashcards!
Am I feeling sad, lonely, worried, embarrassed, frustrated, angry, guilty? Am I feeling at loose ends, unsettled, bored? Am I trying to avoid doing something I didn’t want to do?
Drink a soothing no-or low calorie beverage.
Am I feeling sad, lonely, worried, embarrassed, frustrated, angry, guilty? Am I feeling at loose ends, unsettled, bored? Am I trying to avoid doing something I didn’t want to do?
Relax. Meditate. Do yoga.
If I’m upset,
I’ll try to solve the problem NOT by eating. If I can’t focus on problem solving, I can use my mindset and behavioral tools first.
Sabotaging thought: I can’t calm down without eating.
Helpful Response: There are lots of techniques I can use instead of turning to food. I’ll be very glad in a little while that I didn’t compound the original problem by eating.
Sabotaging thought: I deserve to eat when i’m feeling bad.
Helpful Response: I deserve to feel better. I deserve comfort. But I also deserve to be thinner. Comforting myself with food will only work temporarily, and I’ll feel worse later.
Recognize that you’re upset when mom criticizes you.
Don’t eat to soothe yourself. Take a shower, meditate, or address your problem. If you can’t address your problem right away, do some yoga. You always feel better when you do that!
Food may comfort you initially, BUT
THE EFFECT IS ONLY TEMPORARY. AFTERWARDS YOU’LL FEEL WORSE. Don’t give in , you’ll feel better and more in control.
You feel upset?
Have a cup of tea.
You feel upset?
Practice relaxation techqniues.
You feel upset?
Tolerate your distress. Prove to yourself that the experience of negative emotions is uncomfortable, but nothing “bad” will happen if you just let yourself feel the feelings. In fact, you’ll learn something important. You never need to eat just because you’re feeling upset.
Don’t comfort yourself with food.
If I’m upset, don’t eat to seek comfort! It won’t solve the problem, and I’ll just feel worse.
Sabotaging thought: eating is my only comfort.
I certainly could comfort myself in other ways. Now, I have to decide: I can eat when I’m upset and gain weight OR I can learn to tolerate negative emotions ( or soote myself by doing something else) and get–and stay– thinner.
Sabotaging thought: I can’t do this. I can’t solve this problem.
Helpful Response: Most problems can be solved–or partially solved–even if I don’t see the solution right now.
Sabotaging thought: This solution isn’t going to work.
Helpful Response: It might or might not. Maybe I should try it. I can call on a friend to help me figure out what to do.
Sabotaging thought: I don’t even want to think about the problem. I’d rather just eat.
Helpful Response: Eating is just a short-term fix that’ll make me feel even worse in the long run.
Sabotaging thought: I just don’t know what to do. I really feel like eating.
Helpful Response: Reach out for help! Eating will distract you only temporarily. You’ll have to face the problem sooner or later. Might as well try to solve it now.
Are you stressed?
solve your problems
Are you feeling chronically stressed?
Set new priorities
Are you feeling chronically stressed?
Relax. Every day you need to carve out 20 minutes for personal quiet time. (yoga, hot bath, watch tv, read, meditate, listen to cd, write in diary, take a stroll and appreciate nature)
Are you feeling chronically stressed?
Get a good night’s sleep.
Are you feeling chronically stressed?
Loosen rigid self-imposed rules. Substitute I should always do this ie clean up th ehouse for i should keep the house reasonably neat.
Sabotaging thought: If I relax my rules, things will fall apart.
Helpful response: I’m not abandoning my rules, just making them more flexible If problems arise, I can solve them when they do.
Are you feeling chronically stressed?
Relax your self-imposed rules. You don’t have control over anyone ecept yourself. Take out always and never out of your rules.
Is someone making you upset?
Instead of they should have done this, say, It’s realistic to expect that other people will make mistakes, be angry, treatme crappily.
Instead of thinking people should always read my mind, think
It’s realistic to expect that people won’t know what I want or need unless I tell them.
Instead of thinking people should always be grateful, think
it’s realistic to expect that not everyone will be as appreciative as I’d like them to be.
Instead of thinking people should not be selfish, think
it’s realistic to expect that not everyone can give as much as I’d like.
Instead of thinking people don’t want to hang out with me
it’s realistic to expect that people need their own time. You should take time for yourself as well!
Sabotaging thought: i’ve had these rules forever. How can I change them?
Helpful response: I now have the skills to analyze my rules and ideas differently. I can also decide what is reasonable to do on a case-by-case basis.
Sabotaging thought: If I lower my expectations for myself, I’ll become completely unmotivated.
Helpful response: It’s not all or nothing. I don’ have to lower my expectations completely, just enough to reduce my stress.
